Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Merlot Frosting

A very special lady's birthday just happened- yes, this lady is my mother. In honor of her birthday celebration, I decided to bake up some cupcakes for all of us to enjoy at her birthday dinner. When brainstorming I wanted to create something from flavors my mom loves- two ideas came to mind: malted milk balls and red wine. The dessert needed to be non-dairy, for we were having a friday night meat shabbat meal, so mixing the meat and milk just wouldn't be kosher (hope this pun at least received a chuckle, but my forced funny is a work in progress). I decided to then make a chocolate cupcake with merlot frosting. When I told my mom she was not down, but after setting of the gas alarm all night from reducing the merlot and two sleepless nights of baking and frosting, her birthday cupcakes were completed. The best part of all was she liked them- but c'mon chocolate and red wine, how wrong could you go? (Okay semi-wrong due to the alarm incident). Regardless, in hopes of having a delicious dessert to accompany your dessert wine these cupcakes are a go to, if in hopes of getting drunk and then laughing all to much with your family at an inappropriate card came (no reference to birthday dinner night at all...) these might let you down.

Servings: about 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake box mix
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of instant coffee
3 eggs
1 stick of butter melted and slightly cooled
2/3 cups of water
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of chocolate chips

For Frosting:
2 sticks of vegetable shortening
4 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
5 tablespoons of merlot
2 tablespoons of orange juice
1 teaspoon of orange zest

For Reduction:
1/2 cup of merlot

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

Melt the butter in the microwave. In a large bowl add the cake mix, cocoa powder, instant coffee, eggs, water, and vegetable oil. Then add in the melted butter and mix well. Once mixed add in the chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop, ladle the batter into the lined cupcake pan. Place the cupcakes into the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Once cooked allow them too cool for a few minutes in the pan and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool fully.

While the cupcakes are baking you can begin the frosting. Place the two sticks of vegetable shortening and the powdered sugar in a mixer and cream them together. Note, the sugar could fly everywhere, so I place a towel over the mixer to prevent the large mess. Then add in the vanilla and continue to mix. (Every so often, scrap the frosting down the bowl and off the mixing paddle to ensure all the flavors are fully incorporated and mixed.) Then add in the orange juice, merlot, and orange zest. (If wanting a thinner frosting consistency, add more liquid.)

Once your cupcakes are completely cool, frosting your cupcakes either using a piping bag or a spreading knife.

Then to make the reduction for garnish, take the 1/2 cup of merlot place it in a shallow pot or pan. Bring to a simmer and allow the merlot to thicken- this will be about 10 minutes. Once thickened, take a small spoon and lightly drizzle the reduction over the cupcakes.

Enjoy!